Since my mare can't be ridden for a while as we need to build up her muscles again, I've been lunging her.
Since I'm easing her back into work, it's only for a few minutes at the trot and lots of walking.

I get dropped off at the barn after school and I'm there for an hour and a half.

I decided to teach her to ground tie(:

What I did was walk her around and then stop. When we stopped I said "stand" as usual, and when we walked forward I said "walk on"

Then I stopped her and said "stand" then started to walk away. I heard her take a step so I made her back up one step. (she back's up when I say "back"
I did this about four times and then she stood still. I walked to get my lead and then came back and told her she was a good girl
I did it a few more times and I usually only had to back her once.

How I taught Lucky was just with voice..She knew stand meant to stand (especially if she was tied or I was at the end of the lead), and "ahh!" meant that she did something wrong and had better go right back to where she had been before and not move so she didn't do it again. After awhile I could drop her lead and walk to the other end of the barn, get my tack, and come back out to the arena to tack her up.

But, whenever she took a step, I hollered "ahh!!" and she'd move back and usually stand without moving until I came back and moved her. I thought it was great because when we went trail clearing I could hop off and leave her if I wanted to cut something lower to the ground or look at something off to the side of the trail. Another time it was great was at all our shows..Everytime I managed to forget something in the tack room and already had her reins tossed over her neck, so I'd stand her semi-near to the door, get what I needed, put it on, and hop on to go :p

Hi,
I am also working on ground tying right now, because my gelding decided he doesn't want to be cross tied anymore. The whole thing started last year, now he is really sitting back every time I tie him. Something spooked him once and I made the mistake to untie him. Next time he did it, he calmly walked to his pasture and I didn't bring him back in again Now I am too afraid to cross tie him again for fear of him getting hurt.
The ground tying thing works quite well though.

I taught mine at liberty in the pasture. My hand was raised like a stop sign to block forward movement. I then started walking around my horse, with one hand on him. Just to the shoulder at first then back to reinforce stop, even if he hadn't moved. I continued all the way around. This was done three or four times to help solidify it. The hard part came when I began to walk along his side without touching him, he wanted to turn and follow me. I just kept reinforcing the stop sign and he caught on. Once I could circle him about 4' away I was then able to circle 10' and more, always reinforcing the stop sign. I was then able to walk away 50' or so stop then return. The funny part of this was that the other horse joined us, standing beside the first horse, and altho my focus was on the other, he did it even better. When I circled I had to go around both of them.

When I was showing in a trail class we had to dismount and ground tie the horse while the rider fetched a rain slicker. I was last and watched all the horses blow it. The fronts had to remain inside a chalk circle. My mare had been boarded for several months at a stable whereby it was easier to unsaddle at the tackroom door then walk the horse to the stall. Part of that process was flipping the stirrup up to undo the cinch. The horses caught on to this pretty quick. In the trail class I flipped her stirrup up, got the slicker and flapped it all over and she never moved.

I don't want to high-jack the thread but I thought this might be a good place to post since I want to teach my mare to ground tie and we came across an issue. If I should start a new thread let me know

I just recently adopted my mare Comet and one day I got her out to groom her and forgot to grab the brush. So I tossed the lead rope over her neck like I normally do while I groom her. I didn't have to walk far so I figured she was fine. She stood fine, just dropped her head to graze and of course the lead rope slipped down to the ground. She then took a step forward and sure enough stepped on her own lead. She completely panicked. Her freak out didn't last long because she jumped and when she did it freed her head and I grabbed the lead rope off the ground.
It also happened one day when I was standing with her, talking to a friend, while she grazed on the lead. There was slack in the lead line which she stepped on and as soon as she felt the pressure on her halter, she panicked. I moved her back off the lead rope, not an easy task. And as soon as the pressure was released she calmed down quickly.

The problem is that she freaks out to the point she just might do anything to free herself. I don't want her to hurt herself and I want to teach her how to release herself from the pressure without panicking.

She is not normally a fearful or skittish horse. She is quite the opposite. Very curious and friendly, assertive, bossy, can be quite the "in your face" horse. She confronts everything instead of running or freaking. She has been exposed to a lot of new things in the last couple months and she has handled everything beautifully. I am very proud of her. She is by no means a spooker.

I don't expect a "perfect" horse but this is definitely a habit I would like to fix.

Gorund tying.. means the horse stands and does not eat at all. Not moving the feet and standing, regardless of food, is what you teach.

Usually, the signal to ground tie is the line from the horse to the ground. When the line is dropped, the horse stops moving his feet and stands... and ONLY stands.. just as if they were tied to a hitching post.

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